Improved



iep

UNITE STATES ArnNr Prien. t

E. L. PRATT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE R. CAR- TER,OF SAME PLACE, AND D. H. GOODELL, OF ANTRIM, NEIV HAMPSHIRE.

nmPaovEo APPLE-PARER.

Specification forming part of Leiters Patent No 43,955, dated August 23,1864.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, E. L. PRATT, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk andCommonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Apple-Parere and I do hereby declare that the following, taken inconnection with the drawings which accompany and form part of thisspecifica-tion, is a description of my invention sufficient to enablethose skilled in the art to practice it.

My invention has reference to the construction of the well-knownapple-parers which operate by giving the apple a rotary motion on thefork while the knife passes over the surface of the apple from end toend.

The invention consists in the details of con strnctionof the mechanism,as will be readily understood from the following description and claims.

Figure l represents a plan of the machine, and Fig. 2 a front view ofit.

a denotes the standard or arm, in which the fork b rotates, such armextending from a plate, c, hung loosely 'to or upon a stationary bracket(r bed-plate, d, which is secured to a table by a clamp screw in theordinary manner. This l ed plate has a stationary segmental rack or gearplate, e, ofa semicircular form, extending` from or forming part of it,and into this rack a pinion, f, meshes, said pinion rotating upon a pinextending from the swinging arm a and communicating motion (as said armis rotated on the plate e) through a train of gears to the fork b, sothat as the arm a, by its handle g, is swung around the rack e from thepoint li to the point i the iork shall be rotated sufficiently to bringthe whole surface of the apple under the action of the paring-knife h bythe combined rotation of the apple upon its axis and its semi-rotationaround the knife. In this respect the machine does not differessentially from some other segmental apple-parers, but in such othermachines after paring the apple the fork and its gearingare carried backto their rstposition, whereas in this machine the rotation of the forkaround the center d (or the center line, d is continued, the pinion j'again meeting and connecting with the rack 6 in its forward orcontinuous movement, and it is in so making the machine with a seglutionaround said rack, in the continuation of its circular path or a completerevolution around the axial line d a, that my invention partiallyconsists. As the knife rod lis in the path of the fork-arm a, in orderto enable the machine to thus operate, it is necessary to remove the rodbeyond the path of rotation of the fork-arm and its fork, while theypass over the rack, which Iaccomplish as follows: Upon the inner endofthe arm a, and perpendicular thereto, I place a cam, on, and when theparing operation is completed and thepinion f reaches the point t', thepoint on the cam-surface nearest to the center of rotation ot the arm a,strikes the knife-rod l. This knife-rod is pivoted at its rear end to astationary bar or extension, a, from the bed-plate d, as seen in Fig. 1,a spring, o, bearing against the arm l and holding the knife k up to thesurface of the apple being pared. Vhen the cam my, in its continuonsrotation, strikes the arm l, it moves it laterally until when the pinionagain approaches the first tooth, h, of the rack the cam will havecarried the arm out into the position denoted by the dotted lines insaid Fig. l, and entirely beyond the path of rotation of thc arm a andthe fork b with the gearing on said arm. As or just before the pinionfmeets the rack, the cam m passes beyond the rod and the spring ocarries the arm and its knife 7c back to their normal position, as seenin the drawings.

Another feature of my invention consistsin so applying the kniferod thatwhen the apple is placed upon the fork the apple shall make one ornearly one rotation on its axis (upon the fork) before the knife beginsits outward movement radially from the center of rotation d x over thesurface ofthe apple. This is et'- fected by making a vertical extensionin the inner end of the slot or guiding-surface over which the rodmoves. This surface is generally made in thei'orm of a slot leadingradially and laterally from the center of rotation, said slot being onlyof width sufcient t0 allow the rod to move freely therein in a lateraldirection. Instead of such construction, I make a verticalbearing-surface, p, at the inner end of the guideway q, which operatesas follows: When the iiat end of the apple is pushed up mental rack anda fork to make an entire revoi to the head ofthe fork, (the pinion fbeing at the tooth In) the arm Z will be pressed up to or toward thehead of the vertical surfaee p, and as the rotation commences the armdeseends, carrying the cutting-point of the knife toward the center orstem of the apple in the rst revolution or revolutions of the fork, andthus cutting toward the stem until the enlargement of the apple carriesthe knile outward on the surface q, Whereas by the ordinary constructionthe knife either pares in the same line on the apple during1 the firstseries of revolutions of the fork, or immediately eommenees its outwardmovement and does not pare up to the stem.

claim- 1. So constructing a segmental rack paringmaehine that the forkrevolves opposite the center of the rack, substantially as specified.

2. The employment of the earn m to throw the knife beyond the path ofmot-ion of' the fork and gears, substantially as described.

3. The construction of the slot or bearingsurfaee over which theknife-rod moves for the purpose ot' paring` to the center of the apple,as described.

Witnesses F. GoULD, S. M. MCINTIRE.

L. PRATT.

